PROCESS FOR DELAYING THE CURING OF A CRUSHING SUSPENSION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BASE BEADS FOR DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS, SUSPENSIONS, BASE BEADS AND DETERGENT COMPOSITION CONTAINING THEM

摘要

A process is described for retarding or preventing the setting of a miscible and pumpable crutcher slurry intended to be spray dried to base beads for subsequent conversion to a built synthetic organic nonionic detergent composition. The slurry, which contains described proportions of water softening zeolite, water soluble salt(s), including sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate, and a swelling bentonite, sometimes sets up in the crutcher in which it is being prepared. Often such solidification is spontaneous after the bentonite has been added to the crutcher, and sometimes occurs only minutes after such addition. When 0.5 to 5% of magnesium sulfate is incorporated in the crutcher mix such undesirable setting of the mix is delayed or prevented entirely, and crutching times of at least one hour (and sometimes appreciably longer) are attained, after which the crutcher slurry is still miscible, and is pumpable to a spray drying tower. In addition to sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate the crutcher mixes may also contain sodium sesquicarbonate (sometimes at least partially in replacement of the bicarbonate and carbonate), sodium sulfate and small amounts of sodium silicate, with the proportion of sodium silicate being no more than 2% of the crutcher mix, and desirably being nil. No citric acid or citrate is required to help maintain the fluidity of the crutcher slurry and citric materials are omitted from the crutcher mixes. The invention also relates to the crutcher slurries made, a process for making spray dried beads from the described crutcher slurries, base beads made from the slurries by such spray drying process, and built synthetic organic nonionic detergent compositions made from such base beads by absorption therein of suitable nonionic detergent.